( Disclaimer : This is not a spiritual column....this is not for advertising/disrespecting/discriminating any religion....I am secular in my religious beliefs....read with an Open mind..)
I am one of the youth......
you must be knowing that I'm Pranab ......Pranab Bhattacharya ....(even ForeverRed if u like)
but one day I asked myself ..."Who am I actually ????"
as expected...I didn't get the answer immediately........
But I had a feeling that it was coming....
till the time i was in school...coming from a family of "believers" I used to offer prayers (before exams) n ask anything and everything from GOD..
till that time all was going Cheerful n well for me....so i was confident enough to trust a thing called GOD....
But then came College life ...the period of "Reality"....The "Mighty Downs"....it was an unwelcome downturn...
things were going haywire....Academics unwantingly bad......Life resembled hell.....
I told myself that that I would come through this phase just as I had merrily drifted through my happier past......
Was this a real belief ????....or was i just Closing my eyes ,thinking that the world couldn't see me ??? ....Yes, the latter held True....
the torrid times continued.....
Concentration was at its lowest.....Confidence at its weakest......I was not even the shadow of my old self.........There were Questions like :
Q) How did this happen ??
Q) Why did this happen ??
Q) What have I done to myself ??
Q) Was it my Fault ??
Q) Is it a Dream ???
Q) Who has done this ????
the last question troubled me the most....... indeed who had put this freaking tough time upon me???..........I gave a lot of silly thought on it n finally reached a conclusion....(The Conclusion every believer reaches when theres no one to blame) .....
I Convinced myself that the Culprit was GOD indeed....
That GOD whom I always remembered before Exams and during some auspicious occasions , was now in the Line of Fire.......
Was it really a Good inference ???? .....At that time I would have believed so.......but today ,in hindsight I think that it was a Foolish yet Remarkable inference in my life.....
Suddenly ..I Stopped Praying .....hadn't visited a temple for quite a while .....became totally intolerant about spirituality......and had made many more changes in terms of Spirituality in life....
but the Problem was that... I had done these things Too Abruptly.....
...the torridness of life was hitting me even more now..........
Then came that day ...That day which has compelled me to Write this elementary piece of Realization .......
It was just a few weeks ago from today...... I went to one of my relatives place to chill out....
Was enjoying myself until I was requested by a Relative of mine (Name withheld) to Youtube "Mahabharata".....I followed suit....we saw a few episodes .....
( I've always loved Indian mythology ....and have seen almost all of the serials based on them....seeing these episodes just switched my mind to those weekends in Childhood when I used to wake up from sleep to the tune of "Sambhavaame yugey yugey.." and "Mangala Bhavana Amangala..." and "Sri Krishnaaaaaa......"...what a time it was...I loved the Bow n Arrow fight sequences in these shows....we were brought up watching these serials without knowing the actual meaning and depth they posessed ....)
....then he/she requested me to play the Episode of "Viraat Roop of Krishna Bhagwan".....
I saw it with Him/Her simultaneously explaining every part of that mythological incident to me ...He/She explained that -
This Viraat roop could be seen only by 2 people : Arjun and the Assistant of blind Bhishma ......Krishna was far bigger than what everyone had expected him to be......Infact Krishna was GOD....... he was greater than the universe....He had seven Heads(Roops/Avatars) ....each having a different meaning.....
there were few roops symbolising the Elements of Nature....
one roop which brought people to Earth (Birth)
and one roop which took in the Perished (Death)
Simple as it seemed ....it had loads of Magnitude to it.....I was in a religious aura at that time...... Suddenly the Rational part of my Brain switched on......
I Realized ,that all that was going in front of me was not as simple as it seemed .....It was actually much greater a volume of things....it was indeed the "Theory of Life".
Yes.....The first few Roops(Avatars) showed the Elements of nature Water,Fire,Earth,Wind without which we cannot live...leave aside blog. :P
and the Other 2 roops were the Cycle of Birth and Death (and Reincarnation ..if anyone believes in it..)......people are born and they perish whenever GOD wants them to ....I don't believe in Reincarnation ....but it meant that One is born in the next "Cycle" depending on the level of "Poonya" (Good deeds) that one has done.
its was such a Simple and Logical explanation of the term that we refer to as L I F E .
I felt as if I had just had a cup of Tata Gold Tea (Coz I had the jaago re feeling) .....
I felt amazed....
I couldn't believe that all the things I used to worry about ~ useless tensions ,cursing people ,sadness ,helplessness against terrorism ,Cleanliness(Dirtiness) of our Country ,loss of Concentration ,below par Confidence ,Pitcher full of Negativity(pessimism) and many such moral and personal problems seemed irrelevant ....
I felt as if I had got the Answer to ONE OF THE Questions I had been Asking myself for long.
and the Answer was that the Only thing I had to do is ' Try to do as many Good things in life as I could [Includes - studies,social work,making people laugh(read my other blog) ,cleaning the Environment of Dirtiness (Organic + Moral) and every thing that's good in the sense of the world] .....n most Importantly I learnt that I have to start putting MY SELF in front of Everything....I have to be Selfish in a Non-Animal way.....because after all your life and its 'Poonyas' depend on YOU ....If you are happy ,then the Almigthy will be happy i guess ; thus he/she will keep the Rest of the people happy....... Quite simple an Answer to Digest and Realise .
After this Bomb...Another bell rang in my head ....Why this Theory ??? Is there only One theory ??? Didn't Jesus or Allah or other deities have any theory ????
(Readers will by now be saying - 'No...not again ....not another bout of Inquisitiveness ...you are not CID !!' ...But I would say ' Hey wait !!!!.....this time I didn't need to go to anyone to find this answer...I got it immediately..Myself !!! ' ) .... my freshened up mind Rationalised the Whole situation and Pat I got the Reply....On the mic. , my Conscience...
"Dear PB ,
No...there is only one theory in the World ...but its written in different ways ....one of them is the one you just heard from your Relative ....and the reason that It instantly Clicked with you was because since your birth you have been brought up between such Concepts of 'Heaven' ,'Hell' ,'Punarjanam'(Reincarnation) and other mythological terms ......this pattern is prominent only among people who follow HINDUISM ......and you were born a HINDU ......and at this moment ..after your Realization...... I ,being your Conscience ,can firmly say that you are still a HINDU.....
But that doesnt mean that you are only a Hindu...in fact you belong to all religions ,but GOD has given you the Ability to visualize the Hindu way (i.e. in the form of Mythological characters) ...thus you must be proud that you are also a Christian ,Muslim ,Sikh or of any other religion ...just with the difference that you can Decode in the way of Hinduism."
I was shocked .......I thought 'Wow ! my Conscience is soooo smart !!' .....it just unearthed the Biggest Fact that I was Finding in Life ......
But still One Question remained (Naa....aa....aaa..aaa...aaa ...Don't break the Screen...this is the main part...for me atleast..)..... the Eternal question....
WHO AM I ?????
and Yes ..now I know the reply.....
I'm Pranab R. Bhattacharya
Religion : All Religions (But Can Decode in Hindu )
Place : Earth (Injected with Patriotism of a Country called INDIA)
I wish everyone of you , which ever religion or Creed you belong to ,would start thinking Beyond Religion...... After all I proved to myself that a Single Religion is just the Way you decode Worldly things .....
but eventually you are the Children of He-Who-Rules-The-World or Mother nature .
its up to you to believe....
I'll end with one of my fav lines from the movie Bridge to Terabithia -
" Close your eyes ...but keep your mind Wide open "
-ForeverRed / PB
